Sheet feeding mechanism



July 3, 1962 R. R. TARBUCK 3,042,397

SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 21 1959 INVENTOR. ROBERT R. TARBUCKBY I ATTORNEY United States Patent fifice 3,042,397 Patented July 3,1962 3,042,397 SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Robert R. Tarbuck, West Chester,Pa., assignor to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation ofMichigan Filed Jan. 21, 1959, Ser. No. 788,219 8 Claims. (Cl. 27151)This invention relates generally to sheet feeding machines and moreparticularly to rollers for feeding sheets of material through themachines. While the invention is capable of a variety of uses, it isfound to be particularly advantageous in the sheet feeding art where itis desired to corrugate the sheet material as it is being fed throughthe sheet feeding machine. The corrugation imparts to the sheet materialadded stiffness which is highly desirable, particularly when handlingthin sheets of material, such as paper bank checks, since the addedstifiness improves the feeding qualities of the sheets. The waveform ofthe corrugated sheet, however, causes excessive corner wear onconventional sheet feeding rollers which are generally constructed withsubstantially sharp corners or end edge portions.

The prior art feed rollers are usually constructed of a hub and either aperipheral friction facing material or tire generally of rectangularcross-section cemented or otherwise bonded to the hub. Consequently,when such rollers are subjected to corner Wear, as mentioned above,their original machine setting and feeding efficiency is destroyedrequiring that they frequently be removed from the machine forreconditioning or possible replacement.

An object of the invention is to provide a sheet feeding roller whichwill be less subject to wear.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheet feeding mechanismin which the sheet feeding rollers can readily be reconditioned withoutremoving them from the sheet feeding machine.

These and other objectives will become more apparent from the followingdetailed description of a specific embodiment of the invention when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one form of sheet feeding apparatusutilizing a plurality of rollers constructed in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the roller apparatus when taken in thedirection of arrows 2- -2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a roller hub;

FIG. 4 shows one of the roller tires;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the tire shown in FIG. 4 taken along line5-5;

FIG. 6 illustrates corner wear on certain of the tires necessitatingreconditioning of the rollers;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the encircled portion 7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 shows a reconditioned roller.

Considered in its broad aspects, the invention contemplates a sheetfeeding mechanism wherein the sheet feeding rollers comprise a hub and aplurality of elastic tires of a friction material mounted on the hub.

In the drawings, the rollers 18 each comprise a hub 20 ('FIG. 3) formedwith circumferential recesses or grooves 22 and ridges 24. A pluralityof tires 26, preferably of circular or O-ring construction, are mountedin the grooves 22. The grooves 22 are preferably characterized by havinga friction surface to prevent slipping of the tires 26 about the hub 20.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of rollers 18, in this case threeare used in the present illustration to corrugate and feed individualsheets S forwardly as they are separated from a stack of sheets 28 by afeed roll 30. Each of the rollers 18 is preferably power-driven, theupper roller 18 being mounted on a drive shaft 32 and the two lowerrollers 18 being mounted on a drive shaft 34. As shown, the upper roller18 is disposed somewhat in the space between the two lower rollers 18 sothat their peripheries intersect or overlap. Accordingly, as sheets arefed from the stack 28 they pass between fixed guide members 36 and 38and into the nip of the corrugating rollers 18 to be fed forwardly totheir destination.

The wavy or corrugated configuration of the sheets as they pass throughthe rollers 18 will in time cause wear on the end tires 26, asillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, so that the critical spacing betweenadjacent end tires of the up per and lower rollers 18 will eventually beenlarged as at 40, thus reducing or destroying the feeding efiiciency ofthe rollers 18. However, with the preferred circular cross-section tires26, Wear is minimized and distributed over a greater period of time sothat there is here provided a reliable, long-life sheet feeding roller.

In order to recondition the rollers 18, the worn end tires 26 and acorresponding number of neighboring tires are stretched and interchangedinto the respective grooves 22, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 8, sothat new end tires will now provide the original roller spacing. It willalso be noted that eventually the worn tires may be shifted to theopposite ends of the rollers and thereby provide for full utilization ofthe surface of the tires.

It will now be seen that the invention provides a sheet feedingmechanism characterized by a feeding roller which is less subject towear and which is capable of being reconditioned without removal fromthe machine and in the least possible time.

While there has been disclosed a specific embodiment of the invention itis to be understood that this is the preferred form, and that theinvention may be constructed in a variety of forms without departingfrom the spirit and scope thereof. Accordingly, it is to be understoodthat the invention is not to be limited by the specific device disclosedbut only by the subj-oined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet fee-ding mechanism comprising, first and second shafts, apair of sheet feeding rollers mounted on the first shaft in spacedrelation, and a sheet feeding roller mounted on the second shaftinterposed between and in sheet gripping relation with the pair ofrollers on the first shaft for feeding sheets between the rollers, eachof said rollers comprising a hub and a plurality of elastic tiresmounted on said hub.

2. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising, first and second shafts, a pairof sheet feeding rollers mounted on the first shaft in spaced relation,and a sheet feeding roller mounted on the second shaft interposedbetween and in sheet gripping relation with the pair of rollers on thefirst shaft for feeding sheets between the rollers, each of said rollerscomprising a hub formed with ridge portions on its periphery and aplurality of elastic tires mounted on said hub and located thereon bysaid ridge portions.

3. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising, first and second shafts, a pairof sheet feeding rollers mounted on the first shaft in spaced relation,and a sheet feeding roller mounted on the second shaft interposedbetween and in sheet gripping relation with the pair of rollers on thefirst shaft for feeding sheets between the rollers, each of said rollerscomprising a hub and a plurality of elastic tires mounted on said hub,and wherein the sheet feeding portion of said tires is of curvedcross-section.

4. A sheet feeding mechanism comprising, first and second shafts, aplurality of sheet feeding rollers mounted on the first shaft in spacedrelation, and at least one sheet feeding roller mounted on the secondshaft and interposed between and in sheet gripping relation with a pairof rollers on the first shaft for feeding sheets between the rollers,each of said rollers comprising a hub formed with ridge portions on itsperiphery and a plurality of elastic manually manipulative tires mountedon said hub and located thereon by said ridge portions, and wherein thesheet feeding portion of said tires is of curved crosssection.

, 5. A sheet feeding'mechanism comprising, first and second shafts, aplurality of rollers mounted on the first shaft in spacedrelation, andat least one roller mounted on'thesecond shaft and interposed betweenand in sheet gripping relation'with a pair of rollers on the first shaftfor feedingsheets between the rollers, each of said rollers comprising ahub formed with circumferential grooves and a plurality of tires ofcircular cross-section mounted in said grooves, said tires beingsufficiently elastic for manual manipulation thereof for interchangingone of said tires with another tire.

6. In an assemblageof sheet feeding rollers coupled in an offset orcorrugated relationship to effect a corrugation of a sheet as it is fedtherebetween, a sheet feeding roller comprising in combination, a huband a plurality of tires each mounted on said hub in spaced-apartremovably fixed relation, the sheet feeding portion of said tires beingof circular cross section and the tires being sufficiently elastic toallow for manual stretching thereof for interchanging one of said tireswith another tire without'removing the tires from the ends of said hub.

7. man assemblage of sheet feeding rollers coupled in an offset orcorrugated relationship to effect a corrugation of a sheet as it is fedtherebetween, a sheet feeding roller comprising in combination, ahubformed with ridge portions on its periphery, and a plurality of tiresmounted on said hub and each located thereon by adjacent ones of saidridge portions, the sheet feeding portions of said tires being ofcircular cross section and the tires being sufiiciently elasticto allowfor manual stretching thereof for interchanging one of said tires withanother tire without removingth'e. tires from the ends of said hub.

8. In an assemblage of sheet feeding rollers coupled in an offset orcorrugated relationship to' efiiect a corrugation of a sheet as it isfed therebetween, a sheet feeding roller comprising in combination, ahub formed with circumferential grooves, and a plurality of tires ofcircular cross section each mounted in one of said grooves in spacedrelation to an adjacent tire, said tires being sufficiently elastic toallow for manual stretching thereof for interchanging one of said tireswith another tire Without removing the tires from the ends of said hub.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS408,405 Dolphin Aug. 6, 1889 636,941 Barron Nov. 14, 1899 826,203 WaiteJuly 17, 1906 986,782 Trogdon Mar. 14, 1911 1,418,506 Wood June 6, 19221,553,352 Amidon et al. Sept. 15, 1925 2,200,176 Keltie May 7, 19402,324,050 Shelley July. 13, 1943 2,571,942 Properzi Oct; 16, 1951'2,823,033 Stromberg Feb. 11, 1958' 2,843,377 Battersby July 15, 1958'UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent N0.3,0425397 July 3, 1962 Robert R. Tarbuck 52 It is hereby certified thaterror appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and thatthe said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 1, line 64, after "grooves 22." insert The tires 26 are of suchelasticity as to provide for easy manipulation of the tires as bystretching, to facilitate flexing one tire over an adjacent tire formounting or interchanging the tires into the grooves 22.

Signed and sealed this 23rd day of October 1962.

(SEAL) Attest:

ERNEST w. SWIDER DAVID LADD Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents

